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In Eighteenth Century France there was a great demand for very tall, straight tree trunks to be used as masts of sailing ships. (Mâture is the French word for ‘mast’.) One area of the Pyrenees produced ideal trees – but how could the trunks be brought down a very steep ravine? The answer was to hack out a path, through solid rock, for the mules to carry the trunks. 300 years later, the path is still there and, apart from the occasional rockfall blocking the path and makes for an excellent hike. Welcome to the Chemin de la Mâture.

Starting in the village of Etsaut, the path is reached along a quiet road.

The beginning of the path proper. To the right is a ravine, around 500 metres deep. Not for those frightened of heights.

Amazing to think that this path was created over 300 years ago.

Here we see my brother, Martin, taking an important call from his agent. Nice to be hiking in the Pyrenees and yet not lose bookings.

Click on Martin Taylor to find out more about my brother and his uncanny resemblance to a well known footballer

The path is not particularly steep but it does climb steadily – count on two hours of climbing.

Is it a bird, is it a plane, no, it’s my mum, hiking up the chemin de la mâture. Not bad for a 76 year old!

Down into the ravine… the delightfully named ‘Gorges d’Enfer’ ‘Gorge of Hell’

The Fort du Portalet as seen from the chemin de la mâture. The fort was built in 1842, on the site of an earlier fort. From 1941-43, Philippe Pétain, leader of the Vichy government, imprisoned socialist premier Léon Blum in the Fort. In 1945, it was Pétain himself who was locked away in the fort.

For more information about Pétain and the fort (in French) click here.

Gradually the chemin de la mâture path flattens out though it continues for another hour from here.

Not for the fainthearted… The drop is a couple of hundred metres into the gorge to the right.

Although the rainfall on the chemin de la mâture side of the Pyrenees is high, it is not easy for plants to survive the cold winters and warm summers. Here is a succulent clinging to the dry rock.

The path continues through woodland – a welcome relief from the heat on a sunny day.

I was fortunate enough to see this fine specimen – the imaginatively named “green lizard” – right next to the path

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